Falling Down
Part VI

Minato really was impressed. Naruto had clearly been terrified by the haunter initially, but on his second encounter he was willing to try and work past his fear. He knew grown men who were less able to face what frightened them. And it was a smart thing to do; it would be unfortunate if Naruto faced a trainer who had a ghost pokémon and fell apart upon seeing it.

But…why is he staring at me like that? Minato wondered as Naruto looked at him with a pale face and very wide-eyes. It's like I'm suddenly the ghost pokémon instead of the haunter…

The haunter, seeing the boy distracted, floated closer and put its hands on Naruto's shoulders. Naruto yelped and bolted forward…straight into Minato. If Kirin's body hadn't helped brace him, Minato would've gotten knocked over.

"Cold hands!" Naruto whimpered into Minato's sweatshirt as he trembled.

Minato was rather stunned at first, but tentatively put his hands on the boy's shoulders. "Ghost pokémon do have cold hands…well, those that have hands."

Naruto tensed at the sound of his voice and stumbled away, going back to being awed almost to the point of fear. Minato had seen it before. Some fans got excited upon meeting him in person; they would get talkative and loud and overwhelming. But some just shut down, unable to believe that they were meeting him—some would even run away from him.

From what he could see, Naruto fell into the latter class of admirers.

…Great.

"I'm sorry," Minato grinned nervously, "did I startle you?"

The boy choked out a feeble squeak.

Well, Minato swallowed, this is awkward…

Kushina intervened then. She caught Naruto by the arm and towed him to the side, pinching his ear to snap him out of his daze. After a few quick whispers, she straightened up and gave the boy an amused yet exasperated look.

"Yes, Naruto," she said slowly. "He knows your name. He found you out in the wilds and carried you into town and then he found out my phone number and called me, which is how I found out where you were and that you were in the hospital. Okay?"

"Oh…" Naruto rubbed at the back of his head.

"Um, Uzumaki-san?" the pink-haired girl piped up hesitantly. "You…know Namikaze-sama? I mean—you called him 'Sunshine' and…"

"Sure, I know him," the red-head snorted. "Who doesn't? He's on TV all the time."

"But…you never watch him when he's on TV," Naruto said.

That stung…a lot. Minato hoped that whenever one of his battles was broadcast (or re-broadcast) on television that she would see him and be inspired to contact him. Or at least remember him fondly if she'd moved on from him. But she never watched?!

"You don't like watching my fights anymore?" he asked with a pout.

Kushina flinched. "…I used to, when Naruto was a baby, but I'd get lonely and depressed so I stopped."

"You could've just called me," Minato muttered, scuffing the ground with the toe of his shoe.

"Yes, I know," she grumbled. "But we both know that I am stubborn and stupid."

"You're not stupid, Mom!" Naruto immediately protested and hugged her waist.

"I am not perfect, Naru-chan," Kushina sighed and patted his back. "In fact, I am as far from perfect as you can get."

"You're not quite that bad," Minato said with a shrug.

"Gee, thanks," she replied dryly. "That makes me feel so much better."

Minato chuckled weakly. "You're welcome."

Kushina childishly stuck her tongue out at him.

The haunter seemed inspired by her, and appeared over her shoulder and stuck out its larger, longer tongue and made ridiculous faces at him. Naruto yelped at the rush of cold air that the ghost brought with it and tripped over his own feet in his rush to escape. This made the boy's other pokémon agitated and ratcheted up the overall tension in the air.

"You know what?" Kushina sighed and pulled out the great-ball which Naruto had probably dropped when he'd discovered what was inside. "Why don't you get back in here?" She caught the ghost with the sphere's red recalling laser before the monster could give her any sort of answer and the haunter was sucked back inside. "There, that's better."

Naruto sagged with a deep exhale from his awkward seat on the ground like he could suddenly breathe properly again now that the ghost was gone. Kushina tossed the blue and white ball into his lap and then she put her starmie away. She eyed her son's clutch of concerned pokémon before glancing back down at the boy.

"I think we've all had enough excitement today. Why don't you put your friends away so that we can head back into town?"

"Okay," Naruto mumbled and returned all but his pikachu back to their spheres. The boy started to stand up, but his legs didn't seem to want to support him. His injuries, all the walking he'd done, and his stress with the haunter seemed to have done him in, leaving his legs as sturdy as jelly.

"Alright, alright, stop," Kushina sighed. She released another of her monsters, her faithful feraligatr. "Crusher, Naruto needs a lift."

The giant blue crocodilian lumbered over to the boy and picked him up in his scaly arms with surprising gentleness. Naruto looked both relieved that he didn't have to try and walk anymore and embarrassed that he needed to be carried like a baby. His young pikachu seemed fascinated with the great view he could get from on top of the feraligatr's head.

"Now let's go," Kushina grinned and she and Uzu-chan led the way back to Myouboku Town. Crusher and his two passengers immediately followed her. And the boy and his charmeleon, and the girl and her cherrim, followed after the feraligatr.

Minato hesitated, fiddling with Kirin's reins. He wanted to go with them, but his presence only made things awkward. Whenever he opened his mouth, all the kids would stare at him and Naruto looked like he was an inch away from freaking out.

Maybe I should just—

"Hey!" Kushina called over her shoulder. "Are you going to just stay out in the woods and sulk?"

"I wasn't sulking!" he yelled back. "I was thinking," he added more quietly and joined the short caravan back to town with Kirin in tow. "There's a difference."

"If you say so," she shrugged. "I think a nice soak in the hot springs is in order!"

Well, in that case, Minato thought, I'll have to leave Kage on patrol to make sure that Jiraiya-oji-san doesn't do any peeping…

Naruto groaned as he slipped into the steamy water of the onsen. He could see why Myouboku Town was known for its hot springs. Soaking in the hot water felt great, especially on his batter and sore body. And this particular onsen even allowed pokémon to enjoy the hot water.

That was a good thing for Naruto because without Crusher's support, he probably would've drowned. The feraligatr basked under the surface of the water, letting Naruto rest on his back. As Bolt was leery of deep water after his near drowning experience as a pichu, Naruto switched him out for Gamakichi and the poison toad was enjoying himself immensely.

Sasuke was nearby, also relaxing in the hot water. As Sasuke's charmeleon was a fire pokémon and therefore allergic to bodies of water, he had replaced it with his elekid. On the other side of the wooden fence in the girl's side of the springs, Naruto's mother and Uzu-chan were luxuriating with Sakura and one of her pokémon.

Minato-sama, the great League Champion, had vanished shortly after they returned to town. Naruto was relieved; he'd made enough of a fool of himself for the day. And the green and yellow bruises on his left side looked really gross.

"Naruto," Sasuke grunted. "How come you never mentioned that your mom knew Minato Namikaze?"

"She never told me that she did," Naruto muttered back. "She never tells me that she knows anyone."

"Weird," Sasuke remarked as he rubbed between the plug-like horns on his elekid's head.

"Yeah," Naruto pouted as he watched Gamakichi frolic. "I wonder how she met him…"

"Her kabuto tried to steal my sandwich."

Naruto yelped and slipped off Crusher's back into deeper water. The boy struggled to surface, but his legs didn't seem to generate enough power. A well-muscled poliwrath helped him get back onto Crusher's scaly back so he could get some air.

"Wow," Minato-sama sighed in dismay. "Am I really that scary?"

The greatest trainer in Fire Country stood at the edge of the pool. He had exchanged his khaki pants and blue hooded sweatshirt for a pair of black swimming trunks with yellow lightning bolts down the sides and a towel over his shoulder. The poliwrath swam over to him and waited for the human to jump in and join it in the water.

Naruto gaped at the man for a good minute before the block that had kept him silent finally gave. "You keep appearing out of nowhere! What are you, some kind of super ninja?!"

Minato-sama looked a bit taken aback by Naruto's outburst, but then he laughed. "I don't think that anyone's accused me of that before," he chuckled as he slipped into the water.

"Er…" Naruto flushed in embarrassment. "Sorry."

"It's alright," the man smiled. "I'll take that as a compliment."

"…Her kabuto tried to steal your sandwich?" Sasuke repeated slowly.

"Yes," the blonde man nodded.

Naruto fidgeted a bit before gathering his nerve to speak up again. "When did you meet my mom?"

"When I was about your age," the older trainer replied.

The boy shifted on Crusher's back. "That's cool." So Mom met him before he was famous.

"I didn't think so at the time," Minato-sama sighed as he settled back against the edge of the hot spring. "She just inserted herself into my company and never seemed interested in leaving."

Naruto was mortified. Man, Mom found a way to embarrass me before I was even born!

"Fangirls," Sasuke muttered.

"She wasn't a fan," the Champion corrected. "I had no reputation at the time; I don't come from a famous bloodline. And her presence wasn't all bad. She kept me company, kept things interesting, helped me out, and she even saved my life once."

Naruto gaped. "Ah! How come she never told me any of this?!"

The man looked sad. "You would have to ask her that."

"I will," Naruto decided.

There wasn't any further conversation after that for a while. Naruto sat on Crusher's submerged body and watched Gamakichi try to arm-wrestle with the poliwrath only to lose every time to the more experienced fighting toad's strength. The warm water was soothing and the blonde boy started to nod off.

"I think you're done," Minato-sama said quietly as he caught Naruto before the boy let his face droop into the water. He reached under the water and tapped Crusher on the head, bringing the feraligatr to the surface. "It's time to get out of the pool."

Crusher climbed out of the spring, still carrying Naruto on his shoulders. Seeing his trainer leaving, Gamakichi hurried to follow with the poliwrath following. The older blonde led the giant crocodilian into the locker rooms where he helped Naruto dry off and exit the onsen.

"I'm okay," Naruto insisted as he leaned against Crusher's scaly blue flank outside of the boy's side of the hot springs. "I'm not tired," he claimed around a yawn.

"Right," the man chuckled as he put his poliwrath back in its ball.

A surprising amount of time had passed and it was getting into the evening hours. It was nearly dinner time. But it felt a lot later to Naruto and despite his claims he could've curled up in a bed and gone to sleep in minutes.

"…Naruto," Minato-sama said hesitantly. "I'm sorry about the haunter."

"It's alright," Naruto blinked. "You didn't know that…I don't like ghosts."

"Well, it bothers me that I've saddled you with a monster that you probably will never use." The man stared off towards the sinking sun. "…So I figured that I could trade you something for it that would be more useful to you."

Naruto was rendered speechless. Even though the haunter was a ghost, it was special because the great Minato-sama had helped him get it. But the opportunity to trade it for something that wasn't a ghost, a monster that Minato-sama had captured and trained … It was mind-blowing.

"…Really?!" the boy finally managed to squeak.

"Really," the Champion confirmed with a nod. "If that's what you want."

Naruto slid down Crusher's side to sit on the ground, his mind spinning. He probably wouldn't be offered any of the pokémon that he'd seen the man use in his televised matches, but he surely had more pokémon at his disposal than he used. And who knew what creatures there were to choose from.

But…should he really just get rid of Spooky the haunter? Not too many trainers used ghost-types and ghosts had certain advantages. And having a ghost would help him overcome his issues with the type so that if he faced down another trainer with a ghost pokémon he would freak out or freeze up.

"…I don't know," he mumbled.

"That's alright." The man gently helped him to his feet again. "When you make up your mind, let me know."

"Okay." And then Naruto blurted out a stupid request. "Can I see your dragon?"

But instead of refusing him like Naruto expected, the man smiled kindly at him. "Sure."

The League Champion released a large, tan, winged beast with thin little antennae. It was tall, but still a few inches shorter than his mothers massive feraligatr. The mighty dragon looked kind of cute, but that belied its great power.

The dragonite first greeted Crusher like he was an old friend before taking notice of Naruto clinging to the feraligatr's side. It actually seemed a bit startled to see him and quickly leaned down to get a better look. Naruto held his breath as the dragon gently touched his face and hair with its sharp claws and even sniffed at him some. Then the dragonite glanced over at its trainer before exchanging some words with Crusher. The dragon considered whatever it had learned from the crocodilian, looked down at Naruto again…and smiled at him as it patted him on the head like he was a cute little puppy.

"So I take it that you approve of Naruto, Ryuu?" the dragon's trainer asked.

Ryuu the dragonite gave an affirmative reply.

"Oh good," Minato-sama grinned.

Gamakichi hopped around from behind Naruto and croaked inquisitively at the towering dragon. Ryuu politely greeted the little croagunk and the two appeared to have a nice little chat. But the cute pokémon interaction was interrupted by a man's yell and the cawing of a bird on the far side of the onsen complex.

In minutes, the bird cries and the man's startled shouts drew closer. And then the tall, white-haired man that Naruto's mother had identified as Myouboku Town's gym leader skidded around the corner coming from the woman's side of the springs with a honchkrow pecking at his head. The gym leader ran back and forth in front of the onsen until Minato-sama whistled and the dark bird broke off to land by his side.

"Good bird, Kage," the Champion said, patting the honchkrow on its fedora-like feather crest.

"Minato!" the man with ridiculously long white hair wailed. "That was uncalled for and unnecessary!"

The blonde man didn't look at all apologetic. "I respectfully disagree, Uncle."

"He's your uncle?" Naruto asked.

"Yes," Minato-sama sighed, "I am related to him."

"Eh?" The strange man moved so that he could see Naruto between the bulky dragonite and feraligatr. "Oh! It's you again!" And then he spied Gamakichi. "You have a croagunk?"

"Yeah," Naruto answered slowly.

"Excellent!" the man declared, clapping his hands together. "I like you already!" He cleared his throat theatrically. "Allow me to properly introduce myself…"

There was a flash of light as the man simultaneously released a poliwrath and politoed. The two pokémon took stations on either side of the man, and went through a little dance routine of some kind. The gym leader also danced…sort of…if one considered weird poses and hopping on one foot "dancing".

"I am the great Jiraiya!" he announced. "I am the gym leader of Myouboku Town, Sage of Toads, master of amphibious pokémon, author of best-selling books, and wooer of women!"

"And a super pervert," Naruto's mother sighed as she exited the onsen with her vaporeon and Sakura and her eevee, wholly unmoved by the man's presentation. She punched him in the shoulder as she passed him. "Shame on you for peeping!"

"Kushina-chan, you wound me!" Jiraiya pouted. "I didn't see anything!"

"But you would have if Kage hadn't stopped you," she shot back as she reached the honchkrow. "Thank you, Kage."

The dark bird preened happily at the praise.

"Who's the weirdo?" Sasuke asked Naruto as the Uchiha and his elekid joined the small throng outside of the onsen.

"Jiraiya, the gym leader," Naruto muttered.

Sasuke looked less than impressed.

Sakura anxiously tugged on Naruto's mother's sleeve. "Did he really try to peep on us while we were bathing?"

"Yes," his mother answered with a grimace as Uzu-chan licked the pink-haired girl's eevee dry. "It's a hobby of his…along with writing dirty romance novels that are basically porn stories."

"I do not write porn!" Jiraiya protested stoutly. "I write best-selling pieces of literature!"

"Whatever," the red-haired woman muttered. Then she squealed as the dragonite scooped her up in its arms to hug her. "Hi Ryuu! I missed you, too!"

"Did you miss me?" Jiraiya asked.

She eyed him narrowly as the dragonite put her back down. "…Maybe."

"So mean," the man pouted and shrank in on himself as his two frog-like pokémon patted his shoulders consolingly.

"Hmph," she snorted and placed herself between her faithful feraligatr and the blonde man.

Minato-sama seemed to notice something now that Naruto's mother wasn't wearing her jacket and lifted her heart scale necklace into better view.

"Since when do you wear jewelry?"

"Since I didn't want to lose this scale," she answered.

He studied the shimmering heart-shaped scale for a moment, and then smiled warmly at her. She grinned back at him and it looked like she was blushing a bit. Naruto's eyes darted back and forth between them in mounting confusion.

What the heck are they doing?!

When the Champion lifted his hand to her cheek, Naruto moved in to tug on her arm.

"Mom, can we go get dinner now?"

"Okay," she sighed, smiling wryly. "What would you like?"

"Ramen!" he immediately answered.

"Of course," she snorted. "Let's go. I know just the place…"

Minato sat out on the back porch of his uncle's house and stared up at the starry night sky. Without the bright, constant lights of a big city, and with the clear mountain air, there were thousands upon thousands of tiny stars to see. It was a beautiful sight that he missed when he stayed in Capital City.

Kushina appeared from inside the house and sat beside him, passing him a steaming mug of a brown liquid that he determined was hot cocoa. Like the breakfast she'd made for him a few days ago, it wasn't toxic. In fact, it was pretty good.

"Is he asleep?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said with a nod. "I didn't even get the chance to let him know that he's sleeping in your old room."

"He'll find out in the morning," Minato shrugged and sipped at his drink.

"And he'll be so excited," she giggled.

"I dunno," he muttered. "He didn't seem too keen on me getting close to you. And he kept giving me suspicious looks all through dinner."

"He's never seen me with a man before," she replied. "He's never had to share me with anyone."

"Really?" He raised an inquiring eyebrow. "You never tried to date anyone else?"

"Nah," she snorted. "You set the boyfriend bar too high. I haven't found anyone that can compare."

Minato grinned so broadly that it started to hurt his cheek. "Oh really?"

"What about you?" Kushina asked. "I'm sure that you had plenty of pretty girls desperate to date you."

"I was talked into a few blind dates," he admitted. "And I was roped into going on a few dates with girls as contest prizes," he added with a grimace. "But I never found a single girl that I found half as interesting or attractive as you."

"Gah! Stop making me blush!" she huffed and lightly punched his shoulder. "You wicked charmer!"

"Only for you," he laughed and looped an arm around her shoulders.

The red-haired woman sighed and rested her head on his shoulder. "Oh, Minato… Sometimes…a lot of times…I wonder why you were ever interested in me."

"I could give you a hundred reasons, but I'll just keep it simple," he replied. "Because you were you, and…" He paused to swallow nervously. "And I loved you."

She was silent for a while, and it was only until he felt a damp spot spreading on his shoulder did he realize that she was crying.

"I'm sorry," she whispered hoarsely. "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have run. I should've called a long time ago. But if I ever got in the way…held you back from your dreams…I—"

"Shh…" He put aside his mug of hot cocoa, and then took hers from her hands so that he could pull her into his lap. "You would never have gotten in the way of my goals. At worst, I just would've been delayed from achieving what I wanted, and I could've waited. But that's all in the past, and there isn't much sense on going over it anymore."

"I'm sorry," she sniffled.

Minato had to chuckle. "I think you've apologized more times so far this week than I've ever seen you apologize in all the years that I've known you."

"Ha ha," she muttered sourly. "You're lucky that I love you, otherwise I'd give you a good hard elbow."

"Eh?" Minato blinked, pulling back to look her in the face, "You…what?"

"Baka," she sniffed and rubbed the tears from her cheeks. "I followed you around for years, slept with you on multiple occasions, and had your baby—of course I love you!"

Minato gaped at her. "You…mean that?"

"I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it!" she retorted, rolling her eyes. "Now either kiss me or let me go so I can go to bed."

He blinked dumbly, laughed a little, and then kissed her.